Gotham City Tales: Insane Beginnings
by bryceb68
Summary: This is the story of how some of the most famous super-criminals in Gotham came to be. How did Penguin become a organized crime lord? Why does Poison Ivy despise humanity? Why is the Riddler obsessed with riddles? But most of all, how do people cope with being insane when they don't even realize they are?
1. Introduction: The Cobblepott Legacy

_**AN: Hey everybody. I've been really busy lately with school, and now that school's out I still have a lot to do with jobs and I've been working on doing album reviews as well. I hate to disappoint all of the people who like my writing, but it's just really hard to keep up with everything. If you're reading this because you like one of my other stories, I promise that you can expect some new chapters in those stories as well coming up. I'm really trying my hardest here, and I just hope you guys are still sticking with me.**_

_**Now, the reason I'm writing this story is because I LOVE BATMAN! The major reason this story is very dear to me is because the thing that I love most about Batman is the villains, and this story is going to be from their point of view mostly. I'm going to start out with just a few villains and maybe slowly add in some new ones as I go. My plans are for this to be an epic action drama.**_

_**Remember, although these characters will be very similar to the originals, but I'm going to make this sort of my own and give them a little different history, but it will be pretty much the same.**_

_**Introduction:**_

_**The Cobblepot Legacy**_

_**Penguin**_

I was the brunt of my family's jokes for 28 years, and now, by some way or another, they're all dead, leaving me with an unimaginable fortune, and the responsibility of company that was dying due to my father's unbelievable poor business choices. I sold the company away, because it was of no use to me. I wanted nothing to do with the company, and instead reinvested the money into something more worthwhile.

You see, I was never very good with numbers or business. Mostly because I never cared to learn about those things. In school, I was more worried about the bullies. The ones that ridiculed me for something that I had absolutely no control over. I had no idea that were things you could do to make yourself look differently, and even if I had, my parents wouldn't have given me the time of day to try and fix them. I never asked for my beak nose or my oddly shaped hands! Those imbeciles even started calling me The Penguin, for God's sake! Every single umbrella my mother made me take to school was destroyed by them!

It doesn't matter now. Now, I'm Oswald Cobblepot, one of the richest men in Gotham City. That's all people care about now. They're willing to look over the hands now as long as those hands are filled with money. As for the nose, well, people still stare, but at least they don't make fun of me anymore.

The bullies were the reason that I didn't bother going to school most of the time. I learned what I needed to learn on the streets of Gotham City. On the streets, I was Penguin still, but it was used for a different reason. If the thugs of Gotham found out that I was the son of the most prestigious families in Gotham City, none of them would have taken me seriously!

By the time I was eighteen, I was a part of one of the most feared gangs in Gotham. We were called The Birds. It was a joke, of course, but it was a simple choice for most of the people in my gang. I wasn't the only guy in the gang with a street name that was a bird, but mine was definitely the oddest. All the guys who didn't have a nickname that was a bird changed their name, and we then we changed the group name.

We weren't exactly the most dangerous gang in Gotham. We mostly stuck to small robberies and if someone threatened us we weren't afraid to start a war. I had killed three people by the time I was eighteen. I thought it would be enough to make me quit the gang. Instead, it made me hungry for more. I wanted to be a crime lord. Someone everybody feared yet wanted to be.

My parents made me go to college though, which certainly made me spend more time than I would have liked away from the streets. And I went, but not for what they wanted me to. They thought that I went for a business degree, but really I went to pursue something I cared much more about. Ornithology. It was a big joke to everyone in the gang, but I didn't care. I loved birds, and they just made sense to me. I did the absolute minimum in all of the classes except for the ones that were actually had to do with the animals. I needed time to help out the gang, and doing the minimum that was needed was the perfect solution.

I graduated, but my parents never found out what I really majored in. They never attended the graduation. I guess I should have been hurt by this, but I was used to it. They never attended anything of mine that had to do with school or anything really.

In the following years, my family practically fell of the face of the Earth. My father, who had spent his entire life trying to be better than the Wayne family, finally let the stress get to him. He died of a heart attack, and left the entire fortune to his wife. After a series of aunts, uncles, and grandparents deaths, my mother died a few years later, as well. I guess all of the grief and sorrow finally caught up with her. Also, the drinking may have had something to do with it. My family was all over the news. We were plagued with the title of being the unhealthiest family in Gotham. They weren't exactly wrong. One look at me and you could tell something was wrong with our family.

That left me. Besides a few distant cousins, I was the sole survivor of my family. I was in every single newspaper and on every news station. Of course, I was discovered by my gang, but I had already built enough of a legacy in the streets that it only made me even more famous. Not only was I now the leader of my gang, our gang only grew in size. We were now more powerful than any other gang in Gotham could possibly imagine.

My fame only grew when I sold the company. I was interviewed by every news reporter in Gotham, most notably Jack Ryder and Vicky Vale. I was asked what I was going to do with all of the money. That was a very good question. I decided to do something that could serve help my fame in both aspects of my life. That's how The Iceberg Lounge was created.

To the regular and high society civilians of Gotham City, The Iceberg Lounge was one of the classiest restaurants in Gotham. It took in only the best chefs from all over the world, and it only served the highest quality of food. It was had few seats for regular customers at the front part of the building, and this part was classy, but it was nothing compared to the other part of the building.

The other part of the building was nothing but velvet cushioned chairs, glass chandeliers, and the highest quality of china for the highest quality of customers. There were private rooms that were for very private meetings. There was a huge wraparound balcony which was only given to customers who were of the highest society in Gotham. Protruding from the balcony was a small stage, where performers from all over the country would die to sing. There was a different performer every week, and you had to schedule months or even a year in advance just to perform on this one tiny stage that was in the middle of the room, thirty or forty feet in the air. I had developed a place that was so exclusive, that you didn't care what was happening around you. You were simply satisfied with just being a part of the lounge.

Then there was the very back part of the lounge. Customers simply thought it was where we stored supplies and ingredients, but really it was a whole different world from the actual lounge. It was a place that was not meant to be classy or amazing. It was used simply for business. It was the official headquarters of The Birds. Not only did this make me even more respected by the gang, but it gave us a place to store our new supply of guns, among other things.

You see, my gang's fame had grown to the point that we weren't just doing crime to get more money now. We were being hired by people to kill. We were still robbing convenience stores, but I had big plans that were going to change all that. Most of the gang wasn't thinking as big as I was anymore. My newly found fame had given me a new perspective on crime. I was aiming to make organized crime something you didn't just hear about on the news. Gotham was going to have its first actually organized crime rink, and I, Oswald Cobblepot, wouldn't be expected of a thing.

Of course, there were a few problems that would come up. I didn't have very many people I could trust in my gang. Sure, they were loyal, but that was only because my gang was better than any other in Gotham, and they only wanted the best. Sure, I had a couple of guys who I knew would get the job down. Hawk, Pigeon, and Vulture were some of my most trusted gang members, and I knew they could get the job done. Because of this, I've cut down to about ten or fifteen guys I know will be loyal to me. I've cut off all criminal activity for now, but that's just so the cops will lay off, so they will be caught off guard by our next big heist.

A lot of my guys ask me why I'm still even a part of the gang, since everyone else who's a part of any organized crime does it for money. It's quite simple really. I want Gotham to pay for what I went through. I was ridiculed every day by the kids at my high school, and now, most of them are up and coming high society members of Gotham City. I also want to rule Gotham city, because my father spent every day of his life trying to be better than the Wayne family, and he has nothing to show for it. I don't want his death to be for nothing, even though he never did anything for me except give me life.

Well, I guess it also has to do with the fact that I have nothing else to live for really. Sure, I could leave the crime behind and just focus on the lounge, but I wouldn't be really happy. It is an interest of mine to be powerful, but doing it by just watching as the Iceberg Lounge fills up every night wouldn't be interesting. I need to do something that's more hands-on, and crime is the perfect way to do it. Besides, I've grown up on the streets. Crime is the only thing I actually know. Besides birds, of course.

My plans for the future are bigger and more elaborate than most of the fools in this city could comprehend. I just need one last huge party here at the Iceberg Lounge so that I will be the last suspect on the list when we pull our big heist.

I have the perfect party too. You see, Arkham Asylum is being passed on to the previous owner's nephew. The previous owner, Amadeus Arkham, became as insane as his patients and is no longer seen fit to handle the establishment. In a couple of days, I will be throwing a party for Jeremiah Arkham to congratulate him on becoming the new owner. Anyone who's anyone is coming to the party, even some people from Wayne Corp, but that's just because their building is pretty close to the bank, and I want as few people around there as possible.

While the party is under way, my guys are going to be robbing a bank on the other side of town. I've invited the entire police department, so they will have twice as much time to get out of there, but I don't think they'll need the extra time. I hired some extra help to make sure everything went smoothly.

The most memorable of them was Selina Kyle. She's been casing small convenience stores and jewelry stores since she was in her teens, and she's damn good at it. She's supposedly able to get past any security, but if that doesn't turn out to be true, then she'll be spending time in jail while a bail the rest of my guys out. If she does pull it off she'll earn herself a permanent placement on the gang. Besides, she'll add some much needed attractiveness to the gang.

Another of them was Edward Nygma. Apparently he was a genius, who could hack into any security. He wasn't much in the means of strength or endurance, but with his intellect and Selina's stealth, they'll be perfect for this type of job. Especially since the bank has Wayne Corp. security.

Speaking of the Wayne's, the last of their family members is back in town. Bruce Wayne. He's been gone ever since he left for college five years ago. Now, he's back, which means he has to receive an invitation to the party, or else everyone will ask why he wasn't invited.

Everyone is in love with Bruce Wayne. What's so special about him?! Just because his parents were shot down by some low-life thug, everyone in Gotham loves him. It's fucking ridiculous! The only reason the people of Gotham like me is because I have done things that nobody else in my situation would have done. I had to earn my respect. What did he ever do to earn all of this love?

I remember him at school. He wasn't really a bully like the other kids were, mostly because he was a couple years younger than me, but I remember that look of disgust on his face every time he saw me. This look was worse than every other for some reason. Maybe it was the hatred of the Waynes that my father had instilled in me that made his looks appear worse.

Plans for the party are already under way. I've been meaning to do some renovations here at the Iceberg Lounge for some time now, and this will give me the perfect opportunity to do them. I'm thinking maybe a pool in the middle of the lounge. The space is only used for a large garden that holds some of the rarest species of plants known to man. If I get rid of those, I can fire the expert I had to hire to take care of the plants. Her name's Pamela Isley. I never really liked her. She seemed scared and nervous anytime she was around anyone else.

Yes, my plans are perfect, and who knows, maybe Bruce Wayne showing up will draw even more attention away from the bank. I hate to admit it, but Bruce Wayne could be a blessing in disguise.

_**AN: I hope you guys liked it. This is just kind of an introduction to Penguin and kind of sets the rest of the story in place. So far, I know for sure that Catwoman, Riddler, Poison Ivy, and Mr. Freeze are going to be in the first few chapters. Joker will make an appearance, but he's just a really complicated character, and I want to wait, and set up the rest of the story before I make any attempt at his character. Two-Face will come in, but it will be later in the story. I'm kind of trying to make this like a TV show type theme, but we'll see what happens. Scarecrow might make a short appearance, but probably won't be portrayed as a villain until later. **_

_**Anyways, tell me what you thought. Did you love it? Did you hate it? Also, if there's anything you want to see later on in the story, let me know. I can't promise it will be in the story, but it will definitely help me brainstorm. Who else do you want in the story? Any small comment or question is valued here.**_

_**Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it.**_


	2. Insane Beginnings: Part 1

_**AN: Hey everybody! First off, thanks everybody who reviewed my last chapter. I appreciate any feedback at all, so thank you! Secondly, in this chapter you guys are introduced to Jonathan Crane and Selina Kyle. I really hope you guys enjoy.**_

_**Chapter 1:**_

_**Insane Beginnings: Part One**_

_**Jonathan Crane**_

_**Gotham City University – Psychology Classroom**_

"Fear is an abstract idea, yet it plays such a huge part in life. Fear drives us, as a society. It drives us to do work, because we're scared of the consequences of not working. In a way, fear is the backbone of society." I said to the class. They chuckled to themselves. They always chuckled.

"I'm serious guys. When you were all little kids, how many of you did your chores or something your parents asked you to do, simply because you were afraid of the consequences?" I asked, this time with more conviction. Almost all of them raised their hands. I smiled and nodded.

"You see kids; fear is a huge part of life, which seems kind of silly, because fear is a simple chemical reaction in your brain. You see, your thalamus collects sensory data from your surroundings using your senses, and then your sensory cortex organizes and interprets it. This is happening all the time. It's happening right now as we speak." I said, looking around the room at them.

"So, using the knowledge of how fear works, it's a possibility that we can make a chemical or some sort of stimulus to not only activate fear, but enhance it to the point of making them hallucinate things that aren't really there. Now, this is all very hypothetical, but if we were able to find some way to make this stimulus, can someone please tell me what are some of the possibilities." I asked them. This was the question I looked forward to asking all year. That's when the bell rang.

Kids were rising out of their seats already. "All right, everybody have a great summer!" I said. Damn it! Fear was always something I'd been fascinated by, and this was the subject I enjoyed talking most about with students. Unfortunately, the stuff that I'm supposed to teach covers little of the subject of fear, so I have to save that for the last class of the year, when everyone's finished with their finals. Most of the time, I don't get to even talk about it at all because we have a few kids who take forever to take tests, but this year everyone finished quickly.

I turned around and looked at my desk. I had a huge stack of finals to grade. I knew I was going to be there all night. I sighed in exasperation. I was already tired. First though, I walked over to the chalkboard and began erasing everything.

"Sir, I have few possibilities for the stimulus." A very nasally voice said behind me. I turned around to find one of my students, Harleen Quinzel. She was a very petite girl with long blonde hair put into a ponytail, and very nerdy glasses that seemed to large for her face. She was very pretty, but she was very shy as well, so she wasn't a very noticeable person. She had a strong New Jersey accent that seemed almost too thick to be real.

I was surprised that she would be the one to come up to me, and really I was surprised that anyone would. I immediately smiled back at her, and raised an eyebrow, prompting her to go on.

"You see, Dr. Crane, now that I've finished school and have a degree in psychology; I put in my application for a job at Arkham Asylum. The old owner went a little bit crazy, so a lot of the staff there quit, because they don't have confidence in the new owner. I've been hired there, so when you asked about this stimulus, my mind immediately went to how it could affect the inmates there. I mean, I'm not sure exactly, but what if there was a way to use this stimulus to help treat them. I know it's stupid, but it just like you cared a lot about what you were talking about, so I just wanted to at least give you some feedback." She said shyly. She started fidgeting when I didn't respond immediately.

"That's brilliant, Harleen! You're going to make an excellent psychologist out there. I find it hard to believe that you would want to work out there though. You don't seem like the kind of girl who would want to take any unneeded risks." I said, examining her, trying to imagine her interviewing a crazy person, and failing miserably.

"Actually, it's always been a dream of mine to work there. My life hasn't always been the easiest, and I know how much just having someone to talk to helps. I mean, I know that's not going to fix the patients out there, but I guess I just want to be able to help someone get better, and those people are the ones who need help the most, ya know?" She said, nervously chuckling to herself at the end.

"I know exactly what you mean. That's the exact same reason I used to work there." I said, thinking back to the days I used to be interviewing the criminally insane patients out there. I eventually had to leave though, because I had some creative differences with the previous owner, Amadeus. He said that the way I was treating the patients was not helping them. I kept doing it though, because I was the one with the psychology degree, not him. I was fired, but I found a job here at Gotham University, and it's much more… peaceful I guess you could say.

"You used to work at Arkham Asylum?" She said, her face lighting up.

"Yes, and it was great, but the old owner and I didn't really get along, so I left, and I couldn't ask for more here." I said. I may have stretched the truth just a little bit, but oh well.

"That's amazing! I never knew that. What was it like?" She said, wonder filling her eyes. I looked around and saw that everyone was long gone, and that she should probably leave. I didn't want the dean coming in and assuming something was going on.

"It's just like you're imagining. Sure, it can be scary at times, and some of the patients don't get better, but watching each week as some patients become more and more sane, it's the ultimate reward." I was filled with longing in my heart just talking about it. I missed it there so much. I would give anything to go back.

She just stood there, smiling happily and thinking. "Well, I'm sorry to rush you, but I have a lot of papers to grade, and I'm sure you'd like to go out and celebrate with your friends tonight." I said.

"Of course." She said, snapping out of her thought. "You have a good night, Dr. Crane. Thanks again, for everything you taught me this year." She said. I watched as she climbed up the steps to the top of the rows of desks, and then walked out the door. I sighed, knowing students like that were hard to find. I turned back around and began erasing the board again.

I was lost in my thoughts now, thinking about the days when I worked at Arkham. They were some of the happiest times of my life, and although my techniques of using fear to help the patients were unconventional, I helped more patients there than anyone ever had. The stimulus I talked about was something I had been trying to develop for the years I'd been working there. I had failed every time, but I was hopeful that I could make something that would scare any patient back into sanity.

Amadeus Arkham fired me, but he and I had been close friends. He said that he would not put the reason I got fired down if I left by my own accord. I agreed, but I still count that as him firing me. I'm grateful though that he didn't say the reason I left though, because I never would have been able to get a job at the University if he had.

I finished erasing the board, and then looked over at my desk, and saw the intimidating stack of tests. I groaned, and walked over. I sat down and grabbed a pen and the first test. I took a deep breath and then began reading the first answer.

My phone began ringing in my bag, luckily. I smiled, happy that I could put off grading the test. I reached into my work bag, and pulled out my phone, which I had spent more money than needed on. I looked at the number, but didn't recognize it. I answered anyways.

"Hello?"

"Hello, this is Jeremiah Arkham; I'm calling to speak with Jonathan Crane." The voice on the other end said. My voice caught in my throat because I couldn't believe it. Was this really happening?

"Yes, this is him. How may I help you?" I asked.

"You see, Dr. Crane, I'm not sure if you've heard, but I'm the new owner of Arkham Asylum, and I'm short on staff. I was looking over some old employee files, and I saw that you have the highest number of patients cured. It says that you quit, so I'm not sure if this is a waste of time or not, but I'd like to offer you your job back." He said. I smiled. Coincidence or the hand of God? Either way, I was going back to Arkham Asylum.

"I'll take it."

_**Selina Kyle**_

_**The Coventry – Pink Panther Strip Club**_

"Let's give another round of applause to Kitty!" Marco announced of the crappy speakers. I made my way off the stage quickly, but made sure to keep all eyes on me as I walked off.

I could still hear the crowd cheering and clapping for me as I made my way back towards the dressing rooms. I hated stripping, and I hated the way men drooled over me and people treated this like it was a performance. It was disgusting, and only someone with no self-respect would do this. Or maybe someone who made a few bad deals and owed the owner of the strip club a lot of money.

I passed Kandy, the new girl, in the hall that lead to the dressing room. It was a dark, gross hall that made me want to throw up every time I inhaled through my nose. Kandy didn't seem to care though. Kandy was young, and full of an innocence that made me wonder why she was here.

"That was a great performance, Kitty!" Kandy said, stopping to give me a hug. I accepted it with hesitation, but didn't return it. She was dumb, and didn't realize what this place was doing to her. It was taking that innocence she had and turning it into something terrible.

"Thank you, Kandy." I said, rolling my eyes and pulling away from her hug. She looked at me with admiration and respect, and I couldn't look her in her eyes. I walked away, wishing her luck as she stared at me, wondering what she did wrong. I couldn't look into those innocent eyes. They looked just like Holly's eyes.

I walked back into the dressing room. It was a grotesque place that smelled like cigarettes and perfume. It made me gag every time I smelled it. There were six other girls, all younger than me, in the room, all of them filled with innocence and wonder. That would all go away soon.

I was never like them. The world had been a cruel, disgusting place to me already. My innocence had faded away a long time ago, way before I started here a couple months ago.

They girls all looked back at me with admiration. They didn't praise me like Kandy did. They've worked here just long enough to know that I'm not here by choice like them. I don't think of this as performing, like them. It's a job, and it's a job I hate.

I walked over to my mirror in the corner, acknowledging them so they would go back to their conversation. I grabbed my clothes out of my bag and put them on over my lingerie. I wanted to get out of there quickly. Holly was waiting for me at the apartment, and I needed to get back to her. She was probably scared.

I walked out the back door that led into the alley behind the club. I took a deep breath of the night air and smiled. It smelled only slightly better in the alleyway than in the dressing room, but there was a subtle wind that was blowing against my skin. It refreshed me, and I felt ready for anything.

I walked down the alleyway towards the street. I wanted to get far away from the Pink Panther. It made me sick thinking about it.

The streets were buzzing with life. The Coventry was a mixture of warehouses, manufacturing companies, and nightclubs and restaurants. It was an odd mixture, but it made the Coventry one of the busiest places in Gotham.

I walked down the street towards my apartment building, which was just a couple of blocks away. I kept my head down, not wanting to attract the attention that the night life of the Coventry offered. During the day, the Coventry was a place of business, which allowed a discreet and calm environment. At night though, the streets became infested with some of Gotham's nastiest citizens.

Even though the Coventry was a part of New Gotham, it was still attracted some of Gotham's most dangerous gangs from across the bridge. I couldn't help but think of my situation with that thought.

I'd never wanted to start stripping, but I had loaned some money from Marco, the owner of the club. I used the money to buy some nicer clothes for myself, hoping this would get me hired at a job somewhere in the Coventry. I also borrowed some more money to buy an apartment in the Coventry, hoping that I would be able to walk to work wherever I worked, which would save money. Well, eleven job interviews later, I still had no job, and Marco wanted his money back pretty soon after that.

After a week or so of evading his calls and goons, he finally caught up with me. He wasn't very happy that I didn't have the money, but he offered me a deal. He said if I worked at his club until the debt was paid, he would forget the money and he would let me have all the stage money.

It seemed like a pretty good deal at first. I didn't get paid a salary, but I got all the money customers threw on the stage. It was fun stripping at first. I never had the innocence or pride of it that the other girls had at first, but it was fun dancing up there, watching the blubbering idiots below you digging into their wallets for single, and throwing them at you as if that will make your clothes disappear.

It quickly turned sour though. Marco pulled me into his office one night and told me about a new policy change. We had to have sex with customers who paid enough for it. I was outraged. I told him I wouldn't do it. But I knew I had to. I still owed him quite a bit of money, and the club was my only source of income.

It got even worse once I started doing it though. The men were disgusting. Most of them were married businessmen, looking for a thrill their wife couldn't offer anymore. They paid well, but none of that money came to me. I was only promise stage money, and that's all I got even though I was forced to work extra. I had to give up some of my sets for private sessions I wasn't getting paid for.

I wanted to say something to Marco, but it was no use. I was defeated, and I had to bite my tongue and count the days until I could leave.

I was making less money than usual, and I needed money. My parents had died, and my little sister Holly had to move in with me. I had another person to take care of and I barely had enough money to support myself. I had to do something.

That's when I started robbing convenience stores.

You see, when I was a kid, my parents insisted I take self-defense classes. I took all forms of martial arts and gymnastics possible from the time I could walk to when I graduated. I worked hard to become an expert in every single thing my father signed me up in. He always told me the world was cruel and that the only way to make it was to be prepared for the worst. The gymnastics really helped me case the stores.

The first store was a bit sloppy work. I threw a rock through a window and grabbed as much stuff from the register and aisles as I could in five minutes and then ran away as fast as I could. I ran for an hour straight, not caring about where I was or how I was going to get home. I just didn't want to be caught.

That first robbery is what gave me the confidence to keep doing it. I used the some money from the store to by myself a costume online. It was expensive, but worth it. It was a black, full body leather suit with black combat boots. It seemed silly, sure, but it helped make the whole situation less real if I pretended to be some comic book villain.

That's when the robberies began to get more intricate. I kept robbing convenience stores, but with each robbery, I grew stealthier. It was easy to break into the convenience stores. I just had to pick the lock, a trick my dad made me learn, and then I was in. Most places didn't have security camera, but I steered clear of the ones that did. The first two or three times, I just took food, not wanting to even attempt to crack into a safe.

That's when I started having to give up sets. I was making even less money than usual, and I wasn't going to be able to pay rent. That's when I went online and began studying how to crack a safe. It seemed pretty complicated at first, but I decided to give it a try.

I bought a safe and the gear to crack one online, and I started practicing. After a couple tries, I found that it was pretty easy to crack the safe. You just had to listen for the click when it got to the right spot. I had pretty good hearing so it seemed like a piece of cake.

Well, I tried it out at the next store, and it worked! I got so much money from it that it made me want more and more. The next few stores I robbed went just the same, but then I found one with an electronic safe. I was going to just leave it alone, but some part of me wanted to try it.

I didn't do it though. I just grabbed some food and ran. By that point, the only thing that really scared me about stealing at that point was how much I liked it. I started stealing out of necessity, and yet there I was, challenging myself to get better at it. I wasn't challenging myself because I needed more money; I was doing it because I wanted to see how good I could get.

So I learned how to do it. I learned how to crack safes of any kind, get past any security system. I challenged myself to get bigger and bigger, and eventually, I found myself robbing jewelry stores and some local celebrity houses. They were no match for me.

I soon became a mysterious figure to the gangs in Old Gotham. A few of them showed up at my doorstep begging for me to join. I declined all. Some tried to get physical and force me to join, but my martial arts training were far greater than their brute force. I had enough money to keep myself going and I thought I was happy with doing what I was doing.

As I walked into the apartment, I snapped out of my thoughts and focused on what I was doing. The building was old and somewhat musty, but they kept it clean enough for my tastes. I walked towards the elevator which was a new addition they installed a couple months ago. I pressed the button and only waited a few moments before it opened and I stepped inside.

Now that I was alone, I went back to my thoughts.

Anyways, I thought I was happy with what I was doing until I got a bit restless. I wanted more action. That's when some of the guys from the infamous gang The Birds. They had heard of my skills and wanted to hire me for a heist they were pulling off at a bank. It was a huge step up from my regular jobs, but I agreed. I was hoping that maybe that huge of a job would discourage me from doing it. It was a couple days away still, and was anxious about it.

I stepped out of the elevator an made my way towards my room. The hallway was clean, but the poor lighting made me think of a horror movie. I quickly ran towards the room, shaking off the feeling that Freddy Krueger or Leatherface was going to jump out at me. I quickly unlocked the room and stepped inside, closing the door a little too quickly behind me.

I turned around and walked down the front hall towards the living room. I expected her to be in bed, asleep. Instead she was watching TV on the couch. She had long black hair like mine, but hers was put into a high ponytail. She looked similar to me, but she was much more innocent than me. Her eyes didn't show the years of experience and pain that mine did. I planned on keeping it that way.

"Oh, hey, Selina." Holly said, acknowledging me quickly with an average teenager greeting before going to back to the TV. I stared at her for a second before sighing restlessly. She was becoming a teenager and that meant the average signs of rebellion. I put away my exasperation for a while and pulled out a steely look of authority.

"Holly!" I said in a tone just stern enough to draw her attention away from the television. "You have school tomorrow! You're supposed to be asleep!" I said, looking at her for what she had up her sleeve. Surely she wouldn't do this without a reason.

"Why should I listen to you?" She said, simply. She had something on me. I hadn't told her where I worked. She didn't find out, did she?

"What's that supposed to mean! I feed you, I clothe you, and I give you somewhere to sleep!" I said in disbelief. "Isn't that enough for you to listen to me." I said, looking at her for any sign of remorse. I expected a quick retort, but instead, she chuckled a little and then looked at me like I was the child.

"I used to have so much respect for you, sis." She said, adding extra emphasis on the last word. "And I was going to go to sleep, until I saw this on the news." She said. She picked up the remote and began going through the recordings. I had no idea what was going to happen.

She clicked on a recording that was from just a couple of hours ago. It was a partial recording. She clicked on it and looked directly at me. She wasn't interested in what was on the screen. She wanted to see my reaction. Vicki Vale appeared on the screen.

"Last night, a robbery at a local jewelry store took place. The culprit stole only $10,000 worth of merchandise at the store, when there was $100,000 worth of merchandise in the store. This video was recovered from the scene." Vicki said.

Her face disappeared and a security camera feed took her place. The video showed me, stealing jewelry from the store last night. The video had terrible resolution, but it was clear the "culprit", was a female with black hair. The video ended and Vicki's face came back on the screen.

"The culprit is being tied to a series of other robberies which have appeared in several grocery stores." Vicki said. She opened her mouth to say more, but Holly paused the recording. A sense of dread fell over me like a net thrown down on me by the cops.

I had went there last night, only planning to steal a little bit, because I wanted to lay low before I went on the big heist in the future, but when I got in there, I couldn't help but steal a few for myself to wear.

I had went in the day before to scan the place for security cameras, but I guess I got a little distracted by the jewelry and didn't notice the lone, small camera in the corner.

"I saw that, and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I mean, you were going last night at that time and the woman in the picture looks just like you, but I couldn't believe you would do something like that. I had to make sure it was you, so I went into your room and you'll never believe what I found in your closet." Holly said, obvious disappointment and judgment in her voice. She gestured to the chair in the corner where my leather suit was laid out on the back. She looked at me, waiting for me to say something.

"Look, Holly." I said, sighing, trying to find the words to describe my reasoning to her in a way she would understand. She didn't give me the chance to find those words.

"Whatever, Selina!" She said, storming off towards her room. "I used to think that I could look up to you and that you were different from Mom and Dad. But you're just like them! I can't believe this!" She said, going into her room, and slamming the door behind her. I wanted to go after her, but there was nothing I could do to make her understand.

I didn't understand it either. I didn't know why I felt the need to keep stealing.

I sat down on the couch. I only just sat when my cats jumped up onto my lap, begging for attention. I petted them absent-mindedly. I couldn't stop thinking about it all. All my regrets and mistakes.

I took a deep breath and pressed play on the remote. I needed to see what else they were saying.

"The press has nicknamed the burglar Catwoman, after the many cat burglaries she's completed." I laughed, thinking about how I was surrounded by cats right as she said that.

As much as I regretted my decisions, I couldn't make myself regret actually committing the robberies. The only thing I regretted was not telling Holly about what I was doing.

What was wrong with me?

_**AN: So? What do you think? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Let me know and leave a comment. What do you guys want to see in this story? Let me know!**_

_**I decided to separate this into several parts because it was going to be extremely long if I didn't. **_

_**What You Can Expect To See Next: Poison Ivy's introduction, Penguin's meeting with Bruce Wayne, and Mr. Freeze's introduction.**_

_**Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed and remember to let me know what you think of the story so far and what you want to see next.**_


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